1. The Tang Dynasty's Salty Tea Soup (加盐茶)
During China's golden age (618-907 AD):
• Mandatory ingredients: Pinch of salt, sliced ginger
• Preparation: Boiled like soup with rice milk
• Purpose: Replaced electrolytes in summer
Revival Tip: Try Himalayan pink salt in puerh for similar mineral balance
? Taste history with our Tang Dynasty Tribute Blend recreated from murals
3 Other Extinct Tea Customs
A. Butter Tea Blood Brother Ritual (西藏盟茶)
Tibetan warriors would:
Mix tea with yak butter and blood
Drink from same bowl while swearing oaths
Shatter the cup to seal loyalty
B. Song Dynasty Tea Battles (斗茶)
Aristocrats competed by:
✓ Whisking tea to froth perfection
✓ Judging "tea lines" like wine legs
✓ Betting prized artworks on outcomes
C. Mongol Onion Tea (葱茶)
Genghis Khan's troops:
• Steeped tea with wild onions
• Believed it prevented scurvy
• Used as battlefield antiseptic
? Experience adapted versions in our Lost Rituals Tea Sampler
Why These Customs Vanished
• Ming Dynasty minimalism rejected "adulterated" tea
• Buddhist reforms banned animal products
• European trade standardized "pure" tea tastes
Modern Survivors:
✓ Tuareg salt tea (Sahara)
✓ Burmese pickled tea (lahpet)
✓ Russian zavarka (syrupy concentrate)
At Tea Teapot, we preserve these forgotten flavors through historically-informed blends - because understanding tea's past liberates us to innovate its future. After all, who's to say matcha lattes won't seem equally strange to 23rd-century tea drinkers?
